A Q&A with J.R.

We caught up with J.R. Helton to discuss, among other things, the dichotomy of the “autobiographical novel.”

Q. As a writer of nonfiction, do you ever worry that your negative depictions of family and friends will offend or hurt somebody’s feelings?

A. I worry about that all the time. It kept me from publishing certain stories and holding back certain books for years. I feel I have an obligation to try to tell the truth as I see it. But also, I have to figure out how such truths might fit into a narrative.

Q. You fictionalize some details in your book, but it is mostly based on your life. Why fictionalize any of it?

A. It is mainly to protect people’s identities and privacy as best I can. Also, it seems the definition of “memoir” and the roman à clef or autobiographical novel are changing now. I originally was calling this book an autobiographical novel but my editors both convinced me to call it a memoir and then add a disclaimer at the start of the book.

Q. The narrator in this book — presumably your alter ego — is a plain-spoken guy. Even as his ultimate goal is to become a writer, he has a simple vocabulary, a “young” voice. There is even a kind of innocence in it. Can you tell me about that?

A. I was trying to stay in the feeling of that time in my 20s, which was somewhat difficult since I’m 55 now. Fortunately, I am a pack rat that saves every notebook I scribble in, as I write mostly by hand first. I was able then to draw on material I had written years ago, when I was younger. In the last section of the book, “Finding the Cure for Cancer” I was trying to strip my writing, especially the narrative description, down to the barest bones possible.